Acyloxyalkanesulfonates are anionic surfactants which are used as starting material for syndet soaps, cosmetics and cleaning formulations. They are notable for good foaming properties, good hard water stability and good skin compatibility.
A disadvantage of using these surfactants is the fact that most of them are brittle solids which melt or are stirrable only at high temperatures. At these high temperatures, which are necessary in order to render the acyloxyalkanesulfonate at all processable, the latter is very sensitive to oxidation, thermal decomposition begins and discolorations appear.
Accordingly, it is advantageous to lower the melting point or the temperature at which acyloxyalkanesulfonates are stirrable and thus processable. To solve this problem, it is already known to prepare acyloxyalkanesulfonates which are mixed salts, in which the cation is a mixture of two different cations, for example sodium and potassium ions (U.S. Pat. No. 3,029,264). These acyloxyalkanesulfonates, preferably acyl-isethionates, are prepared by esterification of fatty acids using mixtures of salts of isethionic acid, these salts having different cations. In this way, the formation of discolorations is avoided.